Speaking of Raymonds, as we were....

My great-grandmother's maiden name is BERTHA JULIA RAYMOND. She is the mother of my maternal grandfather, JOHN FRANCIS BURKE, and for my entire childhood, I only met her a couple of times, one of them being at her burial. I knew nothing about her past, though I assumed she was Irish because my childhood was filled with reminders that my Grampy John was as Irish as could be. I knew he drank - a lot - and had no reason to doubt the connection.

Of course, as readers of this blog will remember, those memories were wrong. My maternal grandfather was born and raised in Wilton, New Hampshire, and his BURKE roots go way back. His mother's RAYMOND roots go even farther, as I have recently discovered.

Ancestry.com, the 'big dog' in the family tree yard, recently completed a major upgrade of their systems, part of which was adding online access to major databases kept at the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, the single largest repository of genealogical data in the world. I have been searching those records to trace my own USA-based roots because doing so is a lot easier than tracing my non-USA roots...no travel is required and the records, themselves, are more standard and of higher quality.

I have validated that my RAYMOND roots came to what was called British American in the mid-1600's, what we now know as Massachusetts. Many of them settled in an infamous place named Salem, Massachusetts. In fact, my early searching those data pointed me to what is an amazing, somewhat disturbing, possibility...at least two of my ancestors might have been hanged during the infamous Salem Witch Trials of 1692:

• Hanged on June 10 - Bridget Bishop, Salem Town
• Hanged on August 19 - John Proctor, Salem Village

Salem Town and Salem Village were political designations of two areas with differing opinions about life. This difference was one of the causes of the fear and animosity that gave rise to the Witch Trials.

Many of the details so far match pretty well, but I have a lot of work to do before I know if these two are, indeed, my ancestors. Validating their death dates is what I am working on now. I want to be sure; messing with this kind of fame is not something done lightly. There are many women named 'Bridget' and many men named 'John Proctor' in that time and in my own tree.

For a guy who used to think his entire ancestry was from England, Scotland, and Ireland, this amazes me. But this was a terrible time in our very young country; I have to figure out how I feel about this.

The Joy of Genealogy

Readers of this blog will remember that the challenge of finding and validating information as I make my climb up my family tree is part of the joy. It is also frustrating and infuriating, but it is always fun. Here is more fun I have had this past couple of weeks.

I am a paid member at Ancestry.com's All-Access membership level, which includes everything Ancestry owns and has access in their massive database...all USA and world genealogical records as well as Fold3 military records, and the basic level access to Newspapers.com. The past couple of weeks have revealed so-far-unvalidated facts about my distant ancestors that have totally surprised me. The readers I mentioned earlier might recall my earliest memory of family history was of four immigrant grandparents, a memory that I have since proven to be false; instead of a strict immigrant background, I also have been amazed to find a long family history in southern New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts. This week has increased that amazement.

As a reminder, my family comes from two main lines: Wilkinson and Burke. My paternal Wilkinson side were immigrants; that much is verified. Finding and validating information from them is very difficult because they hail from England...the records I have found so far are frustratingly slim.

My maternal Burke side, on the other hand, is where the excitement and discovery are happening.

Ancestry.com recently updated their system with significant improvements and access to the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City, the largest single repository of world genealogical data. In doing these upgrades, they have made more information available in a much easier to read format. That, in turn, makes finding, validating, and/or excluding clues to my past much easier.

If the information I have found recently is validated - a process I take very seriously because of my background as an investigator - then my own Massachusetts ancestry now goes back to at least my eighth-great grandparents on my maternal great-grandmother's maiden side, Raymond.

For those not familiar with genealogical references, that would be my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents, WILLIAM RAYMOND, SR., and his wife, HANNAH BISHOP, from Beverly, Massachusetts.

The farther back I go in time, the more rigorous I must be to ensure I am putting accurate information in my tree and not just pluck names out of a hat because they sound right; there are many similar names, both within a family and in neighbors, so care is required. I have a lot of work ahead of me, but so far, I have validated enough information to give me a high degree of confidence in my findings and I have to tell you this is about as exciting as I have been in a long time. Learning that my own family was involved in pre-Revolutionary War New England amazes and astounds me. In fact, back then, according to local probate records, Massachusetts was called "British America."

I am so excited to keep my search going to find out just how far my roots spread. Am I related to someone on the Mayflower or one of the other ships that came to the New World early on? Which of my relatives was the first to arrive? Since their arrival in the 1600's, how and why did they come here? If they fought in our Revolutionary War, did they fight with the English "Redcoats" or for the British American revolutionaries?

My journey up my family tree continues as the tree grows taller and fatter.